United Nations Environment Programme

Training or Learning Material

October 2020

CCET guideline series on intermediate municipal solid waste treatment technologies: Mechanical-Biological Treatment

Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) is a pretreatment method used before landfilling to reduce the amount of waste to be disposed.3 MBT literally means the combination of mechanical crushing and sorting processes and biological treatment (e.g. aerobic and anaerobic decomposition) (Fig. 2). The advantage of MBT in terms of appropriate waste...

Policy Report

March 2019

Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6): Summary for Policymakers

The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is the result of a consultative and participatory process to prepare an independent assessment of the state of the environment, the effectiveness of the policy response in addressing environmental challenges and the possible pathways to achieving various internationally agreed environmental goals. The GEO is a...

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March 2019

March 2019

Air Policy

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

The composition of Earth’s atmosphere is one of the major determinants of a healthy planet, influencing the climate, ecosystems and human health. This is highlighted by the existence of a direct or indirect link between the challenges of air pollution, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, persistent bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT)...

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March 2019

March 2019

The Way Forward

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, together with a range of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), set an ambitious long-term vision for the universal pursuit of sustainable development through economic, social, environmental and institutional transformation (Chapter 20). Although progress has been made in managing some...

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March 2019

March 2019

Approach to Assessment of Policy Effectiveness

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

This chapter introduces Part B of GEO-6: Policies, Goals, Objectives and Environmental Governance: An Assessment of Their Effectiveness.

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March 2019

March 2019

Systemic Policy Approaches for Cross-cutting Issues

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

This chapter evaluates the capacity of environmental policies to achieve transformational change in addressing cross-cutting global sustainable development challenges. To this end, the chapter addresses the major challenges of adapting socioeconomic systems to climate change, creating a sustainable agricultural and food production system...

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March 2019

March 2019

Introduction and Context

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

Providing a decent life and well-being for nearly 10 billion1 people by 2050, without further compromising the ecological limits of our planet and its benefits, is one of the most serious challenges and responsibilities humanity has ever faced. People worldwide rely on the smooth functioning of Earth’s natural life-support systems, in different...

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March 2019

March 2019

Land and Soil Policy

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the current Land and Soil policy framework and the related shortcomings, especially in terms of policy cohesion and implementation, as well as overall effectiveness. The subsequent sections present case studies of different sets of legal and policy instruments, economic tools and incentives, as well...

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March 2019

March 2019

Policy Theory and Practice

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

The importance of good policy design cannot be overstressed. Some common elements are: i. setting a long-term vision and avoiding crisis-mode policy decisions, through inclusive, participatory design processes; ii. establishing a baseline, quantified targets and milestones; iii. conducting ex ante and ex post cost–benefit or costeffectiveness...

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March 2019

March 2019

Conclusions on Policy Effectiveness

In Global Environment Outlook - GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

This chapter presents a set of conclusions for Part B of the sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6), reached through the findings of the previous chapters about policy effectiveness (Chapters 10-17). It summarizes for policymakers what is known to work best and why, including a synthesized discussion of the limitations of the evidence available...